Big V8’s return to winning ways
Robin North took his beautiful Ford Mustang to a maiden victory in the first of the two rounds and the Thurtle father and son duo took the second at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit over the weekend (24/25 October)
Qualifying
It had been raining constantly throughout the morning and there was a steady drizzle when the grid reduced by breakdowns and end of season blues came out for qualifying. Robin North who seems to revel in these conditions set the fastest time in his Ford Mustang followed closely by a misfiring Thurtle’s Camaro. Bob Searles took third sport in his Aston Martin DBSV8; the first three showing that having a big V8 muscle car didn’t preclude them performing well in the wet.
Duncan Clarke and Christopher Knapman came next in their ‘Performance Car Magazine’ invitation VW Golf. Rikki and Joe Cann were 5th in their Gulf liveried V8 Vantage.
The Dickson / Lim Ram Cobra were on dry tyres so ended up 6th but obviously were a threat if it dried up on Sunday. The Cooke / Cooke / Verchueren Mustang, Ian Russell’s BMW and Jonathan Bloohn and Andy Nunn in their Hertz Shelby GT350 were in the next 3 places. This was Andy’s welcome return to the series for well over a year. The last 2 spots were taken by the Cairns / Mckeon Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite and the Cummings / Bennington Lotus Exige.
Race One
Sunday was the opposite of Saturday with bright sunshine forecast all day. Robin North set off from Poll with Arthur Thurtle in hot pursuit. Bob Searles followed in third. The Ram Cobra of John Dickson carved his way through the field but the lowered car was grounding each lap coming out of paddock bend. This culminated in a hole being worn through the bottom of the sump leaving a trail of oil all around the track. He was not black flagged so the trail was replicated twice more before the red light forced him to pit.
This made the going fairly tentative for the remaining cars most having some interesting moments. Eventually Arthur Thurtle went off deep into the gravel at Paddock on lap 10; not the oil but pushing too hard was Arthur’s verdict. This brought out the safety car.
This now left Robin North in the top spot followed by Bob Searles but Bob was being pressurised by his old Aston adversary Rikki Cann. He kept the Gulf Blue Aston at bay for 15 laps until drifting off line going into Surtees. He picked up some oil and went straight on. This was enough for Rikki to gain 2nd. The Clarke Knapman Golf had a solid 4th place followed by the Cooke / Verchueren Mustang, Cairns McKeon Sprite and Ian Russell in his BMW.
Results race one: 35 laps:
1 Robin North (Ford Mustang) 35m51.345s (70.20mph); 2 Rikki Cann (Aston Martin V8 Vantage) +23.742s; 3 Bob Searles (Aston Martin DBS V8); 4 Duncan Clarke / Christopher Knapman (VW Golf); 5 Richard Cooke / Simon Verchueren (Ford Mustang); 6 Cairns / McKeon (Austin Healey Sprite); 7 Ian Russell (BMW 320); Class winners: Robin North; Rikki Cann; Cairns / McKeon. Fastest lap: Dickson / Lim (Ram Cobra 427SC 52.817s (81.69mph).
Race two
Arthur and Boysie Thurtle had fixed their misfire, removed all the gravel from the underneath of their car and lined up at the back of the grid next to John Dickson in his Ram Cobra with a non-leaking sump. Not an encouraging site in the mirrors of the cars in front. At the start, Joe Cann from poll was taken at the exit of Paddock by Bob Searles who then tried to get as much space between his Aston and the rest of the field to delay the inevitable charge of Thurtle and Dickson.
On lap 3 Joe Cann put the family V8 Aston into the gravel at Paddock necessitating another safety car period. John Dickson kept Arthur Thurtle at bay until the driver changeover when Boysie took the Camaro out in front of the Cobra and held the lead until the end. Second was taken by the Ram Cobra who had to be satisfied with fastest lap. Knapman / Clarke in their VW Golf had a great race-long dice with the big V8 of Bob Searles, finally ending up on the podium. Bob was fourth, the Mustang of Cooke and Vershueren 5th; Ian Russell brought his BMW home in 6th and finally Jonathan Bloohn and Andy Nunn in the Shelby GT350, which by rights should never had made it to the start. Only a front suspension re-build including re-welding the front wishbone made that possible.
Results race two: 36 laps:
Boysie & Arthur Thurtle (Cheverolet Camaro) 35m 14.057s (73.48); 2 Dickson / Lim (Ram Cobra 427SC) +4.397s; 3 Duncan Clarke / Christopher Knapman (VW Golf); 4 Bob Searles (Aston Martin DBS V8); 5 Richard Cooke / Simon Verchueren (Ford Mustang); 6 Ian Russell (BMW 320); 7 Bloohn / Nunn (Shelby GT350) Class winners: Thurtle / Thurtle; Cooke / Verchueren; Fastest lap: Dickson / Lim (Ram Cobra 427SC 53.281s (80.98mph).
Photos by Jakob Ebrey
